Tulip Telecom has said it will offload its entire 13 per cent stake in the joint venture with Qualcomm, as soon as the American major decides to exit the Indian wireless broadband market.
The joint venture, floated to implement long-term evolution (LTE) technology in the emerging Internet broadband segment, has three partners, Qualcomm, Tulip Telecom and Global Holding Limited. While Qualcomm holds 74 per cent stake, the two others have 13 per cent shareholding each.
Qualcomm plans to exit the venture after creating a long-term evolution, or LTE, network to roll out broadband wireless access services. The company has broadband wireless access (BWA) licences for offering mobile broadband services in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala.
Prior to this, it was believed that Qualcomm has entered into a $1.2 billion deal to sell its BWA spectrum in four circles to a private telecom operator. The company had announced that it will work with 3G operators to develop the 3G+LTE ecosystem, commercially deploy LTE TDD in the BWA spectrum and then exit India LTE venture.
Following the auction, Qualcomm had formed separate joint venture companies for the four service areas. The company sold a 26 per cent in the broadband unit to Tulip Telecom and Global Holdings for $57.72 million in 2010.
